www.MG42.us

What is the best way to install the rails in an mg42 and also should I take some metal off the back of the rails to make sure the bolt fit properly. I am building on a factory yugo receiver.

Ed

I'm going with Oakrodents way of welding them in... his build is posted on weaponsguild forum...
Just started my build with yugo front and BRP rear stampings.

Tom

The bolt was made to fit properly with the rails the way they are..... why would you take some off, and from where?

jbaum wrote:The bolt was made to fit properly with the rails the way they are..... why would you take some off, and from where?

Maybe he meant the buffer.

I bolted the rails in to see how they fit and it seems rather tight could not get the bolt all the way in and the side with the Recuperator tube seems to push the rail up to tight to the receiver and the rollers hit the receiver when you install the bolt.

I bought my rails from RTG and they do not look the same as the old rails. The old rails look to be thinner at the bottom of the rails and at the feed area looks to have been machined to push the rail up higher.

Ed

If the bolt won't fit in the rails, the receiver is holding them too close together. Fix the receiver. The MG3 rails you have are slightly different than the MG42 rails, but work fine when the receiver is correct. If the recuperator pushes on the rail, it's because the recuperator isn't fitting in the corner of the receiver properly. Fix the receiver. With rails installed, the recuperator should be able to be removed by itself. It should not be wedged permanently in place with the rails installed. At the front, the rails are aligned by the cam piece. If the cam piece is too high due to a bow in the receiver, the rails will try to ride too high. Are the rails properly fitted to the cam piece?

I figured it out the Recuperator tube was not down all the way at the rear and was sitting on top of the piece that hold the grip stick so the rail fit now.

Ed